Dark Days

Jocelynn Drake makes her stunning debut with this paranormal tale of vampires, evil elves, and a kick-butt heroine with a sizzling-and deadly-ability. Nightwalker Mira has survived centuries, in part owing to her elemental control of fire. But when the long-imprisoned naturi threaten to destroy vampire and human alike, Mira finds herself turning to a most unexpected ally-the vampire hunter Danaus.

She stepped out to a strange people in a strange darkness…and she saw a stranger in her husband. Charlie Kensal grieves the loss of both parents at her brother's farm near Valley City, North Dakota. She's always listened to her well-meaning if not rather authoritarian brother, even when it came to marrying Richard. Then the world is upturned when darkness falls five minutes past two-in the afternoon. Even more shocking, Charlie escapes the isolated farm during a riot with rugged cattle rancher, Nick Miller. The cause of the darkness is unknown. Temperatures plummet outside even as heat turns up between Charlie and Nick. When Charlie finds Richard at the National Guard Armory with other survivors, she leaves with her husband. But something is wrong with Richard. Soon, Charlie regrets leaving Nick to the darkness. And darkness is just the beginning.

A master of fire, Mira is the last hope for the world. For centuries she has secretly enforced the history-altering edicts of the Triad. Now she and her unlikely ally-the human vampire hunter, Danaus-have come to Venice, home of the nightwalker rulers. But there is no safety in the ancient city, for the threat of conflict is in the wind . . . with unholy alliances and earth-shattering betrayals taking hideous form in the shadows. Banished for eons beyond the world's boundaries, the malevolent naturi prepare to feed once again upon a vulnerable earth-and treachery is opening wide the portal that will enable their dread re-emergence. The great battle that has always been Mira's destiny is looming, and she must remain powerful in the face of a shocking revelation: that Danaus, the only creature she dares to trust, is something more than the man he claims to be . . .

The dawn brings new terror for the creatures of the night . . . Those of her race fear Mira for the lethal fire she bends to her will-a power unique among nightwalkers, both a gift . . . and a curse. The naturi despise Mira for what she is-as they prepare the final sacrifice that will destroy the barriers between the worlds. And once the naturi are unchained, blood, chaos, and horror will reign supreme on Earth. Mira can trust only Danaus, the more-than-mortal vampire slayer, though he is sworn to destroy her kind. And now, as the day approaches when titanic forces will duel under cover of darkness, destiny draws them toward an apocalyptic confrontation at Machu Picchu. But all is not lost, for a wild card has been dealt to them: a rogue enemy princess who can change the balance of power and turn the dread tide.

Murder has pulled Mira out of the shadows and back into the living world... As the fire-wielding enforcer of the nightwalker coven wrestles with the mind-destroying ghosts of her dark past, the slaying of a senator's daughter in Savannah threatens to expose her kind to the brilliant light of day. The dawn of chaos has come. The naturi have broken free of their eternal prison to feed on the defenseless and unbelieving of an unprepared Earth. Mira and Danaus - vampire and vampire slayer - must unite to prevent the annihilation of their separate races. But for Danaus the challenge is intensified, for he must also fight the bori who covets his soul. And Mira, the nightwalker he must protect - whose power is the Earth's last hope - is rapidly going insane.